Checking Up
by Wraith Ink-Slinger
Summary: Rossi comes to see how JJ is doing on her and Henry's first Halloween without Will.  My entry for Chit Chat on Author's Corner Challenge Round 5- Candy Land Challenge.  Oneshot.


Checking Up

A/N: Yikes! I'm getting this one in just under the wire… and just in time for Halloween, too! In case you didn't see, this is my entry for Chit Chat on Author's Corner Challenge Round 5- Candy Land Challenge. So… Happy Halloween and I hope you enjoy!

Oh, and this is AU in that Will has gone. Sorry, Will. :/

Prompt: JJ/Rossi; Sugar Daddy

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable. Including, but not limited to: Criminal Minds, the characters, anything ever created by Disney, or Sugar Daddies.

-/\-

_Halloween wraps fear in innocence,__  
__As though it were a slightly sour sweet.__  
__Let terror, then, be turned into a treat..._

_~Nicholas Gordon_

-/\-

David Rossi drove slowly down the street where Jennifer Jareau and her son resided, careful to avoid the early trick or treaters who were dragging their parents through the streets as dusk settled on the suburb. He wondered if JJ and Henry would be among those costumed wanderers, but something told him he would find her at home this Hallows Eve. He pulled up to the curb just as a very short Darth Vader was walking up to JJ's one-story home. Darth Vader looked Rossi up and down when he got out of the car and headed for the house as well. "Aren't you too old to trick or treat?" He asked, his voice muffled by his plastic helmet.

Rossi smirked. "I won't tell anyone if you don't."

He imagined the person behind the mask would have looked rather confused at that comment, but a moment later, the miniature caped villain shrugged and walked up to the front door with Rossi. The profiler allowed Vader to ring the bell- part of the fun of Halloween, of course- and both waited patiently for the door to open. A moment later, JJ appeared at the door with a bowl of candy. When she stepped outside, she quirked an eyebrow at Rossi, but then smiled down at Darth Vader. "Hi, there." She greeted in a soft yet cheerful voice. "What can I do for Darth Vader this evening?"

Darth Vader held up a small plastic pumpkin and repeated the rhetorical "trick or treat" in a theatrically deep voice. JJ smiled and held the bowl out so the boy could see into it. "Go ahead and pick one."

He did just that, plunking a Kit Kat bar into the orange bucket on his arm. "Thank you!" He cried, forgetting his villainous act as he turned to walk away.

"Happy Halloween!" JJ called after him before turning to Rossi. "You're a little old to be trick or treating, aren't you?"

"That's what Vader said." Rossi replied, jerking his head in the direction of the retreating child.

JJ shook her head but smiled nonetheless. "You're more persistent than everyone else on the team." She said, turning to go back inside. "Come in."

"To be fair, I never offered to do anything for you or invited you anywhere. I'm just… checking up." Rossi told her, following her inside the house.

It was warm inside and it smelled of pumpkin, most likely a byproduct of the Jack-O-Lantern out on the front step. The sound of the television could be heard coming from the living room. "I don't need anyone to check up on me. It's been over a month… I'm alright." JJ told him, walking into the living room. "Take your shoes off if you're coming into the living room."

Rossi almost smiled at the familiar phrase his mother had repeated endlessly whenever he came into the house. He obligingly slipped of his shoes and followed JJ into the living room. "It's Halloween. The holiday is oriented around helping your kids dress up and taking them out trick or treating. Something like that is bound to make you miss your significant other." He said by way of explanation.

"If you think you're supposed to be cheering me up, you're not doing a very good job." JJ said with a smirk as she put the bowl of candy down on the coffee table and sat on the couch next to Henry.

Standing next to the couch slightly awkwardly, Rossi glanced at the TV. Words ran across the screen announcing they were now returning to some movie called "Halloweentown." "You can sit down, if you want." JJ offered, looking over at him.

When he did so, JJ placed a hand on Henry's head and said softly, "Say 'hello' to Dave, honey."

The two-year-old turned and waved at Rossi, most likely just to make his mother happy, and then looked back to the movie on the television screen, which seemed to involve some kids running around in a town filled with Halloween creatures. "Hey, kiddo." Rossi said with a small smile, then looked at JJ. "I'm not trying to cheer you up. I'm just seeing how you're doing."

"Both Garcia and Emily offered to take Henry trick or treating for me, Reid offered me an extra ticket to his phantasm-thing, Hotch even suggested taking Jack and Henry trick or treating together." JJ said with a knowing smile. "Don't think I don't know what you guys are doing."

Rossi smirked. "For a bunch of profilers, none of us are very subtle." He replied.

"No, you're not… but I don't mind." JJ's voice softened slightly. "I do appreciate what you guys were trying to do, but I just… wanted to stay home with Henry tonight. Carve a pumpkin, hand out candy, watch Disney's version of Halloween… steal candy from my trick or treater's bowl."

"Sounds nice." Rossi replied, watching as JJ leaned forward and snagged a piece of candy from the bowl.

JJ pulled the wrapper off a Sugar Daddy and placed it in her mouth. "It is." JJ admitted when she'd pulled it out.

They sat in silence for a few moments. "Those were my favorites, when I was younger." Rossi said, gesturing to the candy JJ was eating.

JJ leaned forward again and dug through the bowl before pulling out another caramel pop. "You've just made some trick or treaters unhappy- I think that's the last one." She said as she handed the Sugar Daddy off to Rossi.

Rossi eyed the candy uncertainly even as he unwrapped it. "I haven't had one of these in years." He said, beginning to eat the candy.

"It's just caramel on a stick, but it's good…" JJ said, sounding suspiciously as though she was trying to fill silence.

Nodding, Rossi glanced over at her and saw she was looking at the movie on television. He supposed this meant he was invited to stay and leaned back on the couch slightly. The doorbell rang and JJ grabbed the bowl of candy and went to the door. "Be right back." She said quickly as she headed out of the room.

Rossi glanced down at Henry, but the little boy didn't appear to notice much beyond the movie. It had reached its climax, but Rossi doubted Henry fully comprehended that fact. He assumed the boy's rapt attention had more to do with the action on the screen than the story. A few moments later, as promised, JJ returned, put down the candy and sat on the couch once more. The room became silent as the three occupants watched the movie reach its obligatory happy ending. "I never really understood how Disney can keep churning out movies like this and keep kids' attention with it all." Rossi commented as the characters smiled at each other and the kid on the screen that reminded him vaguely of Reid made one last smart-alecky remark.

"They like watching the happy endings. Isn't that right, Henry?" JJ asked, smiling down at her little boy.

"Yeah." Henry smiled back up at her before sliding off the couch.

"Where're you going, Sweetie?" JJ asked.

"Play." Henry responded happily, toddling over to the corner of the room where a few of his toys lay.

JJ watched the little boy for a moment as he began picking up comically large Lego's and sticking them together in geometrically nonsensical forms. "There aren't always happy endings, though." Rossi said quietly, so the boy couldn't here.

"I know… but someone needs to teach kids that sometimes, there are." JJ said just as softly, giving her candy a contemplative lick. "Sometimes I feel like I'm not really cut out to do that for Henry."

"That's not true." Rossi told her after a moment. "Out of anyone on the team, you've probably stayed the most… optimistic after everything we've seen. I never knew how you did that, but I admire it."

JJ turned to look at Rossi. "Aside from Garcia, you're probably the most qualified to teach him that the world can be good, in spite of everything that happens." Rossi continued.

There was a beat of silence. "I still think Disney might be more qualified than me." JJ said with a small smile. "But thank you."

Quickly, the blonde leaned over and kissed Rossi on the cheek, her lips still sticky with caramel. "I feel like I've been kissed by a five-year-old." Rossi told her, rubbing a thumb over the sticky spot she left on his cheek.

Grinning at him, JJ shook her head. "You haven't really been kissed by a kid until you get one after feeding them spaghetti." She laughed as the doorbell rang. "And just for that, you can take this batch of trick or treaters."

She held out the bowl of candy to him and Rossi frowned at it. "You know, I leave home on Halloween so I can avoid having to do this." He tells her, but grabs the bowl anyway and heads for the door.

JJ laughed and called after him, "You're in _my_ house now, Rossi, better get used to it!"

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_Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first._

_~Ernestine Ulmer_

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A/N: That was much longer than I expected or intended… and I was watching "Halloweentown" on TV a few weeks ago and saw one of the kids on there and realized he reminded me of a mini Reid… and I just had to include the movie. Anywho, I really hope you guys enjoyed it (the story, that is, not the movie)! I actually had a bit of fun writing it!

So, Happy Halloween and, if you're pagan/wiccan, Happy Samhain! Thanks for reading!


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